The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

Legend has it that the Founding Ancestor of the Divine Mansion Sect attained enlightenment in the mountains. By the time he re-emerged in the Jianghu, he was already a Sensing Powerhouse.

After descending the mountain, he slaughtered all his enemies in one fell swoop. He then returned to Shenfu Mountain and established a martial training ground, naming it the Divine Mansion Dojo. This was the forerunner of the Divine Mansion Sect.

That Founding Ancestor had a total of three sons, two daughters, and seven disciples.

Over the next thousand years, these descendants brought glory to the sect, transforming the Divine Mansion Dojo into the Divine Mansion Sect we know today. It grew to become a dominant power in Huanglong Prefecture.

This continued until the current generation, where the emergence of two peerless prodigies within the sect brought its prestige to an absolute zenith.

Countless generations have passed since the Divine Mansion Sect was founded.

The lineages of the Founding Ancestor’s seven disciples have all died out; only the Murong Clan, the family of the ancestor himself, remains prosperous.

Who knows if the Founding Ancestor’s grave is so auspicious it’s practically on fire, but in any case, the Murong Clan produces a genius every few generations, and their line of Sensing Powerhouses has never been broken.

Since its founding, the Divine Mansion Sect has seen the rise of many powerful families, yet only the lineage of the Murong Ancestor has enjoyed everlasting prosperity.

This matter once drew the attention of many powerful individuals, but all investigations proved fruitless.

In the end, they could only attribute it to the Murong family’s excellent graveyard feng shui.

But Lu Yu felt there was something very unusual about this.

He believed the Murong family’s "good fortune" was most likely connected to the legendary Divine Mansion!

The probability of producing geniuses like the Murong family, if placed in Bai Yuan’s previous world, would be the absolute definition of superior breeding; even Emperor Xuanyang would drool at the sight.

Selecting heirs is a matter of utmost importance for any clan, and even more so for the Royal Family. Any mistake in this could destabilize the entire dynasty.

The Xuanyang Royal Family has expended countless efforts to ensure the quality of their bloodline.

Why do you think the founding Grand Ancestor Emperor was willing to rule the world alongside the martial sects?

It was because the Li Family couldn’t possibly produce a Grandmaster of Martial Arts in every single generation.

With his era-defining combat prowess, the Grand Ancestor Emperor could naturally suppress all enemies, but the same couldn’t be guaranteed for his descendants.

The higher one climbs in the Martial Dao, the more crucial innate talent and comprehension become. You can’t become a Grandmaster through sheer grinding alone; piling up resources is useless.

If a generation of the Royal Family suffered from a lack of talent, how could they suppress the powerful martial artists of the world?

The common people could be suppressed by the army, but those masters of the Martial Dao were not so easily dealt with.

Even when the Grand Ancestor Emperor was alive, he still had rivals. His descendants certainly would as well.

If the Li Family wanted to secure their throne and ensure the Xuan Yang Dynasty lasted for millennia, they couldn’t rely on their own strength alone. Otherwise, they would inevitably suffer the same fate as the dynasties before them.

Thus, the Grand Ancestor Emperor brilliantly distributed power to the various sects and used marriage alliances to win over the world’s geniuses.

This way, even if a generation of the Li Family produced a mediocre ruler, the interwoven interests of the various powers would ensure he could at least act as a figurehead.

And once the Li Family produced another Grandmaster, Xuan Yang would once again belong to the Li Family.

This is why the quality of the Xuanyang Royal Family’s Prince Consorts was exceptionally high, producing many world-renowned Grandmasters.

And events unfolded just as the Grand Ancestor Emperor had predicted.

The Li Family has indeed been the master of Xuan Yang for two thousand years. Although there have been turmoils, they were all eventually quelled. The world still belongs to the Li Family.

The world of the Martial Dao was, after all, very different from Bai Yuan’s previous world.

But if the Li Family could produce a genius in every generation... the outcome would be drastically different!

The Xuanyang Royal Family would become the true Heavens, and the Li Family’s Emperor would become the true Son of Heaven.

Although Lu Yu wasn’t a member of the Royal Family, he understood the weight of this matter.

Forget the distant Xuanyang Imperial Race; just look at his own father, a General whose illegitimate children were scattered all across Ling Province.

If his descendants could be as strong as the Murongs, he could surely establish a dynasty of his own.

Martial Artists, in the end, are mortal. Even someone as powerful as the Grand Ancestor Emperor eventually died.

Therefore, to establish an eternal legacy, besides being powerful yourself, it was even more important to have children—and good children at that. Having capable descendants was a prerequisite.

Among the major powers in Ling Province, the Divine Mansion Sect was the most recently founded. Didn’t it become a hegemon precisely because of its terrifying rate of producing talent?

Although Lu Yu was only in his early twenties, he already wanted capable sons and dreamed of becoming the ancestor of a thousand-year-old lineage.

Martial artists in Xuan Yang rarely married young. If not for his training, he would probably have a son and daughter by now.

But it wasn’t too late. Once he obtained the inheritance of the Divine Mansion, he’d follow his old man’s example and have a hundred children.

In Bai Yuan’s previous life, this kind of behavior was generally known as... "sharpening the spear."

Lu Yu’s appetite was huge. Being a mere General wouldn’t be enough.

...

It was late at night again.

Bai Yuan was returning to Wan Jun Peak as usual.

As he walked along a dark forest path, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

’Demonic energy!’

His expression hardened.

The source of the demonic energy was extremely far away, about eighty li from his position, and was moving at an incredibly slow speed.

If his Demon Search skill hadn’t been upgraded to the Legendary level, he would have never been able to sense that demonic energy.

Because the source of that demonic energy was a Tier Eight Great Demon!

A Tier Eight Great Demon! That was a powerful existence on par with a Grandmaster, practically invincible in Ling Province.

Judging by its direction, the demonic energy was coming from the territory of Shenfu Mountain!

’I wonder if Old Dong and Sect Leader Murong Tian know there’s such a powerful demon right under their noses.’

But soon, Bai Yuan’s expression turned to one of excitement.

The appearance of the Great Demon reminded him of a hidden dungeon from a mini-game in his past life.

The Divine Mansion Dungeon.

The game’s official description for this dungeon was just a single line: "Immortal Cave Mansion, source of all arts."

Bai Yuan had only seen in an expert player’s guide that the entrance to the Divine Mansion Dungeon was likely related to a high-level Great Demon.

Now it seemed that the Tier Eight Great Demon was very likely the entrance to the dungeon!

However, he had no intention of courting death by going to investigate.

He was a Demon Hunter, true, and he did possess the Ten Thousand Demons Painting. But if he encountered a demon that was far beyond his strength, he would be killed just the same, no different from any other Martial Artist. It was like a hunter dying in the jaws of a tiger.

Curiosity was the first thing a Demon Hunter needed to extinguish. Because curiosity didn’t just kill the cat; it killed people, too.

He would definitely tackle the Divine Mansion Dungeon, but not now.

Bai Yuan glanced toward the direction of the demonic energy from afar and didn’t linger.

...

「Main Peak, Sect Leader Hall.」

"Master, the man from the Lingzhou Army hasn’t made any significant moves."

Murong Jiujiang stood respectfully beside the Shenfu Sect Master, Murong Tian.

Murong Tian gave a faint nod.

’That General Xuanwu thinks his actions are secret, but he has no idea that the Divine Mansion Sect spotted them the moment they entered Huanglong Prefecture.’

Murong Tian even knew they had visited Shenfu Mountain.

But the other party was from the Lingzhou Army, after all. He had to give the Lord General some face.

As long as Fang Kui and that young man didn’t do anything out of line, he would pretend not to know.

With the battle in the Northern Territory now urgent, General Xuanwu, Fang Kui, had already gone north.

A young man and two Entering Martial Artists couldn’t stir up any real trouble.

So, Murong Tian had simply assigned Murong Jiujiang to check on them every few days as a matter of routine.

"Is there something else?"

Murong Tian glanced at the junior Murong clan member beside him, who looked like he wanted to speak but was hesitating.

Murong Jiujiang finally voiced the question on his mind.

"Master, is there really a Divine Mansion on Shenfu Mountain?"

He had learned that the true purpose of Fang Kui and the young Lu Yu’s visit to Huanglong Prefecture was to search for the legendary Divine Mansion.

In fact, stories about the Divine Mansion had long circulated in Huanglong Prefecture, but they were mostly treated as folk tales, not much different from stories about the Childbirth Goddess delivering babies.

For the Lingzhou Army to suddenly send people to investigate, it couldn’t be a rumor without basis.

A sneer appeared on Murong Tian’s face.

"Over the past thousand years, the Lingzhou Army is hardly the only one to have searched for the Divine Mansion. The Li Family sent people too, and didn’t they also return empty-handed?"

"So the Divine Mansion is fake?"

"Perhaps it’s real."

"..."

Murong Jiujiang was speechless. That statement was the very definition of saying something without saying anything at all.

Murong Tian waved his hand dismissively.

The Divine Mansion?

’I have never seen it. None of the past Murong Ancestors have seen it either.’

As for whether the Founding Ancestor had been there, that was unknown. But one thing was certain: the Founding Ancestor never mentioned it to his descendants.

Murong Tian had no interest in wasting time searching for something so ethereal and illusory.

It was no different from the emperors of previous dynasties who sailed the seas in search of immortals—a completely fruitless endeavor.

It was more practical to just focus on his martial arts training.

As for the Lingzhou Army... if they wanted to search, then let them search.

He actually hoped that little fellow from the Lingzhou Army would really find an Immortal Cave Mansion.

Murong Jiujiang knew his master had no intention of continuing the conversation, so he tactfully took his leave.

’Could the Divine Mansion really be fake?’

’Perhaps not even the Founding Ancestor had the answer.’

Countless people in the world have sought immortals, but to this day, no one has ever found a real one.

...

「The war in the Northern Territory was escalating.」

The Xuan Yang Court had greatly underestimated the strength of the Demon Sect in the Northern Plains. The flames of war now stretched for thousands of li across the Northern States.

The reigning Emperor ordered the construction of a great wall to keep the enemy beyond Hidden Dragon Pass.

Countless conscripted laborers from the Xuan Yang Dynasty were forced into the wind and snow of the Northern Border to build the wall.

The wall was a hundred meters high, but who knew how many bones were buried beneath every single stone.

Truly, when the state thrives, the people suffer; when the state falls, the people suffer.

Old Dong had gone to the Northern Territory and was as frighteningly fierce as ever. Bai Yuan even suspected the old man was using a cheat, just like him. Otherwise, why would he enjoy killing so much?

Due to his divine valor, Old Dong actually earned the appreciation of the Grand General of the North and was granted the title of General Wei Yuan.

Although it wasn’t uncommon for figures from the Martial World to be ennobled as generals, he was the first from Huanglong Prefecture.

For a time, Old Dong’s fame shook the Northern Territory.

His prestige even showed faint signs of surpassing that of Murong Tian, the Shenfu Sect Master.

「On Wan Jun Peak.」

Bai Yuan was, as usual, grinding his levels.

Peace had returned to Huanglong Prefecture. You Shengnan and Xiongshan had gone down the mountain to do missions again. It was said that Xiongshan was on the verge of a breakthrough and about to pass the Blood Refining Pass.

This senior brother, who appeared big and burly, was actually a talent who possessed great wisdom that appeared as foolishness.

Although his aptitude was much lower than You Shengnan’s, he was somehow a step ahead of her at the Blood Refining Pass.

In other news, Ma Dingjun, Cheng Li, and Li Ting had made him proud. They fought their way into the top fifty on the Dragon Gate Platform and were promoted to Outer Disciples.

With Bai Yuan around, they of course joined Wan Jun Peak without any question.

With Old Dong away, Bai Yuan naturally had the final say in all matters on Wan Jun Peak.

When the Peak Master was not on the mountain, the True Disciple acted as the Deputy Peak Master. This was already an unwritten rule in the Divine Mansion Sect.

Why else would True Disciples hold such a high status within the sect?

Every True Disciple was practically a candidate for the next Peak Master, a pillar-like existence within the sect.

Therefore, the Peak Masters of the Thirteen Peaks were all extremely cautious when accepting disciples.

A virtual panel floated before Bai Yuan’s eyes.

[Name: Bai Yuan]

[Class: Demon Hunter, Sword Ghost, Boxer, Spirit Cooker]

[Skills: Demon Search (Legendary), Demonic Qi Lure (Master), Thousand Faces Technique (Proficient), Sunflower Acupoint Technique (Proficient)...]

[Enhancement Points: 0]

After this period of killing demons, he had raised several of Old Dong’s Cultivation Techniques to the Proficient level.

Skills at the Proficient level were already of great use to him in combat.

Take this Thousand Faces Technique, for example. The reason Old Dong’s disguise skills were so brilliant was that he had practiced this Cultivation Technique.

The Thousand Faces Technique was a unique skill of the Tang Family from Xuanyang Jiangdong Prefecture. Who knew where Old Dong had gotten it from, but its effect was excellent.

If Bai Yuan wished, he could transform into a woman, and no one would be able to tell.

Besides that, Old Dong’s collection of Cultivation Techniques also included acupoint striking, therapeutic massage, pulse-taking, and more—a dazzling array of everything imaginable.

One can never have too many skills. The more he learned, the more would come in handy when it was time to kill someone.